Math for the fun of it

Nate finding out how many ways he can make nine. Kaytie, on her own, took this to the next level. She would lay out a rod, (eg: a ten) put another rod on top, (eg: a one) and say, "Ten minus one is nine! See, I made nine!"

This is a game I adapted from Peggy Kaye. I drew a grid and covered it in clear tape. With a dry erase marker, I wrote a random variety of numbers and plus or minus. Then they rolled their dice and added or subtracted the numbers. It was a race to the top, so there was no taking turns. This was even more of a challenge for Kaytie, because she doesn't think well under stress. So she got practice in calming herself and thinking in a hurry without freaking.

Living math, workboxes, and free manipulatives

In my quest to learn more about Living Math, I came across Jimmie's blog, and this idea. After some thought, I decided to re-work our schooling a little bit. Firstly, we sort of joined the workbox movement. In our own twisted, quirky way, of course. For one thing, I keep the boxes in the cabinet. I like having them out of the way, and it's the only place to put them, anyway. Like most people, we don't have the space to have 12 boxes for each child, so they share. They are doing the same work, anyway, so it just seemed logical to put two of each consumable in the box. Not all of the boxes are the same size, either. I have different sized activities, so I used different sized boxes to save on space. We also don't use numbers or strips. Since my kids can read, I assumed they could track from left to right, so I didn't see the use of numbering the boxes. Also, when they are done, they put consumables in their tray, for me to file later, and non-consumables go right back in the box.

All that said, the system is working well for us. I don't put our group work in the boxes, because again, we don't have a lot of space. The kids work on boxes for morning school. It's nice that they can get a lot of "little" stuff out of the way while I can be available for the little kids. In the afternoon, we start with our "group work" which mostly just means me reading aloud Science,

History, our Geography books, and whatever go-alongs we happen to have. Oh, and it includes our Grammar lesson. Once that is done, they finish their boxes. We get so much more done since they are not always waiting on each other to finish a project. And it's nice to not have to answer the "What's next?" question all day long! I also like a specific time for group work instead of juggling it around when both kids might be available.

Since we have always used hands-on stuff, I have tons of ideas for putting in the boxes. Unlike most people, however, the drawback to this system, is, for me, refilling the boxes. I try to do it at night, but sometimes I find myself trying to refill them as they work... eek! Fortunately, they are used to me flying by the seat of my pants!

But I really didn't start this post to write about workboxes. I wanted to describe our new "math lifestyle". The boxes are a part of that, though. We are no longer doing our worksheets for math. Whew! THAT was a big step! When it took Nate two days of agony (on his part) and gritted teeth (on my part) to finish a math test, I knew it was time to let it go. On the one hand, we are having so much fun with games and activities, and the kids thrilling to the discovery that life is made up of math... on the other hand, we are groaning and weeping and stressing over answering a few arbitrary questions on a piece of paper that I paid entirely too much money for. The insanity of it struck me and I had to let it go. I expect, when we reach the point where my math knowledge ends, that we will go back to a curriculum, at least in some form, but for now, we are learning math where we live... !!!

So, back to Jimmie and livingmath.com I re-arranged the big kids' "free choice" shelf by putting out all our math manipulatives for them to choose from...

Not only that, I explained to them that there were two rules concerning this stuff: everything must be put back away properly (always a rule when it comes to school shelves) and must be treated with respect. Otherwise, they are free to mix and match everything on the shelf. They can use the counting bears with the geometric shapes, or the pattern blocks with the cusinaire rods. They are free to explore, examine, and experiment.

A (very long) Day in our life...

I have wanted for awhile to do a Day-in-the-Life post, but life was always in the way. But finally, today, I remembered to start paying attention to what happened early enough to write about it. :) Today was also a good day, because the teens weren't coming because of a doctors' appointment, so I would have a little more time to write and a little less to write about, not to mention that I would catch all sorts of flack from them if I wrote about them, here. Teens have such privacy issues. So, here you have it...

7:45 Kids start appearing in my room. One announces wetness and is sent to change undies. One wants to talk about exercise and muscles. She is reading a book that she feels the need to share with me, and the fact that my eyes are not open doesn't deter her in the least. One just wants to cuddle. :)

8:00 I give up on sleeping and arise to fix breakfast. This action is greeted with much cheering and applause! The kids pick the cold cereal they want to eat, and I pour milk and pass out bowls and spoons. Today is a good day because there are four identical purple spoons, which means no fighting. I have to go and wake up Nate. He is my late sleeper and I have to wake him more often than not.

8:15 The kids are settled and eating so I take a breakfast drink from the fridge and sip it while I open blinds, check in on the computer, and piddle around the house a bit. Dad goes through the house kissing everyone good-bye and leaves for work.

8:30 Everyone is finishing up with breakfast, so I circle the house, guiding children in their morning routine. They all must put their bowl and spoon in the sink, wash themselves, and dress themselves. They are all expected to put their dirty clothes in the laundry room/bathroom. Then they must make their beds. In addition, Kaytie rinses the dishes, Nate wipes the table and chairs, and Daniel and Abbie work together to make sure the living room is picked up. Today, all goes well. Kaytie and Nate do their work with little trouble. Daniel and Abbie, however, slip off into the playroom, and dump the dollhouse bin, the dinosaur bin, and the small car bin. So I spend most of the rest of the morning working with them to get them all picked up again.

9:00 Once the kids are well on their way into their morning routine, I start my own chores: loading the dishwasher, shifting laundry, sweeping the kitchen, and one or two big chores according to the day. Mondays are mop the kitchen floor day. But vacuuming needs to be done more. However, neither actually gets done today. The kids put away their clean laundry, and scatter to various pursuits. Kaytie finds a book, Nate sets up various scenes of gore and violence, involving dinosaurs eating each other and then being run over by trucks. Daniel and Abbie are still working on their mess. This is a source of tension. Well, for me at least, they only seem to feel the tension when I am in the room with them. As soon as I leave, they seem to be able to relax just fine.

As I work, I field various requests for guarding Nate's toys, and I listen to Kaytie read interesting bits from her book. She is already composing, in her head, various exercises for us all to do in order to be stronger and more healthy. She keeps stopping to compare my muscles with hers, and I can tell by the look on her face that I am falling woefully short of her standard.

10:00 By now, I am finished with the chores and ready to start school. Nate has a math test to finish up, Kaytie is shocked and delighted to discover that she doesn't have a math sheet. She settles down to reading Math Fables. I work with the little kids to finish cleaning their mess. Because they are not done, they miss out on Circle Time for today. Nate reminds me to put on our Bach CD. It's a good thing I have kids, or I would forget my head, most days.

10:15 Kaytie is reading Misty of Chincoteague. Nate is struggling through his test. I am taking pictures of the little kids working. Mondays are always their best days because they have so many fresh things to work with. They are exploring all of the new stuff I set out, then they settle down to their regular mode of coloring, coloring, and more coloring. I'm a little concerned about their future education, though. I don't know how they will make it through college without me by their side, since they have come to the conclusion that everything they do must be photographed. I have ruined my kids!

10:20 Daniel is fussing for MORE paper, while Abbie wants me to write her name on her paper and simultaneously draw a ballerina in pink. I deal with them in between calling out spelling words for Nate, posting the teens' weekly assignments on their blog, and helping Kaytie with her science experiment on reading color words written in different colors.

10:25 I discuss with Nate the blend "wh", listen to Kaytie read aloud from her McGuffy reader, repeatedly remind Daniel that I will help him with his stamping in. one. minute., and rejoice in Abbie's triumph over correctly sorting all the magnetic letters by color (a self-imposed task).

10:30 I take more pictures of the little kids, correct Kaytie's Spanish colors activity because I forgot to make a control sheet, and forgot that I hadn't made a control sheet and put the activity in her box.

10:45 I write names for the little kids, admire the pictures Kaytie is making with magnets, and listen to Nate read aloud. I am almost finished posting the teens' work. I remind Abbie to go pee.

11:00 I help the little kids with their stamping, and explain the science experiment to the big kids.

11:15 I remind Daniel that he needs to work at the table and not the shelf. I show Abbie how to make a pumpkin with the pattern blocks. I watch Kaytie practice her sign language, and correct Nate's Spanish color activity.

11:20 Daniel puts the wipe-off book away (after his third time to use it) and declares himself done with school. He wanders off to play.

11:21 Abbie is also finished. She puts her work away and picks up a baby doll.

11:25 Kaytie is done, and puts on her shoes to go outside. This creates a mass exodus. So I seize the moment of peace to start writing this post. Nate decides to be done with school, but asks for "free choices", he chooses to play with the pattern blocks, and for a few minutes, life is peaceful.

11:30 Kaytie comes in, asking for a match to light the leaves in the yard on fire. I explain why this is not such a good idea. She counters with the information that "Nana's daddy used to do it". Totally guessing here, I say that he had a special place to burn them so that he could contain the fire. She departs, satisfied, at least nominally. I am ever so grateful that there are no matches in the house.

11:31 She returns to tell me that the babies have scattered the newspaper all over the living room. Daniel comes running to tell me that Abbie pushed him off the couch, but is in too big of a hurry to go outside and play in the leaves to stay for much more than a kiss.

11:35 Kaytie comes in to have me feel how fast her heart is beating.

11:40 Nate is finally finished. Kaytie wants the magnetic wand to explore what is magnetic in the front yard. So I wander off to be available for emergencies. We spend a goodly amount of time in the yard, throwing leaves, raking and jumping in the leaves, and just enjoying the beautiful weather!

12:15 Dad shows up for lunch, so we follow him inside. I chat with him a bit while the kids mill about, bringing us "food" from their play dishes. An ambulance and firetruck scream down the street and the kids run out to watch. There is some discussion about the hermit crabs who apparently died recently... how did we know? Only because of the smell. Now there is a sad life, when you are so sedentary that the only way others know you are dead is because you stink.

12:30 I fix the kids a quick lunch. Daniel asks to pass out the forks. Letting him is a calculated risk, since there are two purple forks and two red forks in the drawer. Will someone be upset? The suspense is nerve-wracking. DUN DUN DUN DUH! Today is a good day because everyone "Gets what they get and they don't get upset". Whew!

12:33 While the kids eat, I unload the dishwasher. Ideally, this job is done in the morning chore block, and Daniel puts the silverware away. However, Mondays are rarely ideal. I pause at one point to remove the toy blender from Abbie. She was using it to eat her peach. Sadly, I only noticed because Daniel was complaining that she wasn't sharing it with him.

12:50 The "fast" eaters are done so I start herding people to the bathroom to wash and pee. It's an assembly line of cleaning off the table, cleaning off yourself, and heading to bed. Kaytie picks a book to read. I'm still encouraging Nate and Abbie to stop playing and eat. Daniel bounces around the house while I try to guide him in the correct direction.

1:00 Two down, two to go. I remove a cardboard box from Abbie's head and start my own lunch, thoughtfully leaving the "good leftovers" for Steve in case he wants them when he emerges from wherever he has disappeared to.

1:10 I start clearing the table. Nate finishes and goes to pick a book to read. They are on "trial" for reading in their bed again. It has not been allowed for some time, since I found a book torn up in their bedroom floor. I put the good leftovers in the microwave for Steve's lunch.

1:15 Everyone is finally sent off to "nap". I hurry and eat before chaos sets in. Steve gathers his lunch and leaves.

1:20 A friend brings some clothes for Abbie that his granddaughter has outgrown. Interesting tidbit #1: this granddaughter is a few months younger than Abbie. Interesting tidbit #2: a third of this box of clothes is made up of outfits that are too big for Abbie. :) We chat for awhile.

1:40 I sort through the clothes and try a few on Abbie, then send her back to her "nap".

1:45 My nephew shows up to be babysat. I hear about SIL's badly sprained ankle.

1:50 I settle back at the computer to update this post.

2:00 I realize I have forgotten to set something out to thaw for supper. I pull a package of hamburger meat because 1. it thaws faster than anything else (how sad that I know this!) and 2. it doesn't matter so much if it doesn't thaw completely before suppertime. Looks like we are having Hamburger Helper for supper.

2:15 I refresh the kids' boxes for the afternoon session of school. I don't always do this, but they only have three boxes left, and I had forgotten to put in a couple of things they really needed to do today (like piano practice) and they will be wanting more fun stuff to do. Have you noticed that I forget things a lot?

2:30 I get the big kids up for afternoon school. Afternoon school is much less stressful than morning school, since I only have half the kids to deal with. We start with a quick Circle Time. We do our Group Work, which means I read aloud from our Apologia Flying Creatures of the Fifth Day book, a book about Peru, On the Mayflower by Kate Waters, and a few pages from The Light and the Glory for Children, we are up to the part about the Pilgrims (perfect timing, huh?) We also go over pronouns in First Language Lessons.

3:15 The kids start their boxes. They are delighted to find their Bible activity sheets in their first box. We whip through it quickly. We are discussing Joseph. They remember the answers to all of the questions except for what he named his sons.

3:30 In their second box, is a "together" game called Double It that I found in Games for Math by Peggy Kaye. I forgot a small detail or two, so I make it up as I go along. They have fun, but we HAVE to play again because Kaytie won the first game and Nate couldn't let that stand. The little kids get up around this time and I send them outside to play with a handful of crackers.

3:50 Nate hunts down the keyboard and all of its parts and Kaytie colors, cuts, and alphabetizes a group of paper leaves.

4:00 I help Nate practice while watching Kaytie show off her cutting skills, struggling to herd the little boys out of the playroom since I still have Abbie clothes scattered around in there, and trying to convince Abbie I can not help her every three seconds to dress/undress/redress her dolly.

4:15 Nate is finished and starts cutting out his leaves, we have a sharp discussion about READING THE INSTRUCTIONS and FOLLOWING THEM! sigh

4:20 A fight breaks out over table space. Once that is settled, Kaytie gets frustrated with her cutting and I show her how to cut off the small portion she is working on so she isn't dealing with an entire sheet of paper.

4:25 I call an end to school, and have them put their stuff away. They run off to watch Ruff Ruffman. There are only three boxes left, and they are all "fun" stuff, so I don't mind at all leaving them until tomorrow. I take a minute to update this post and then go stop a few fights/arguments/mild disagreements in the living room.

4:45 Kaytie chooses to forgo the last part of Ruff Ruffman to get piano out of the way. The little boys go outside, Abbie listens quietly to the music, and Nate is watching tv, so it is a peaceful practice.

5:00 Abbie takes her turn at the piano. I watch a bit of Maya and Miguel with the kids, then they go outside. I switch the laundry again.

5:30 Dad comes home from work and the kids flock around him. Abbie snuggles up in his lap and promptly falls asleep. She just can't make it the entire day without a bit of sleep!

5:45 I start supper. It's quick and easy... Hamburger Helper (with a extra noodles thrown in. We need more than one box, but two is still too much) and frozen veggies.

6:00 We sit down to eat. H. H. is a favorite, so supper is fairly painless. Abbie must be encouraged to finish her veggies. The boys have three helpings apiece.

After supper, the kids have some Halloween candy and I clean up the supper dishes. Alex is collected by his mom. The rest of the evening, we pretty much just hang out. Kaytie is deep into a book on healthy eating, exercise, and germs. The little kids draw on Magnadoodles. Daniel is awesome at this, Abbie is more whiney than anything. Her nap wasn't long enough, apparently. Nate just bounces around, flitting from thing to thing, trying to convince me that it is a rule that I have to do whatever he says because he loves me so much.

8:45 The kids pick up toys. Since it was such a nice day and most of their playing was outside, this is not a big chore tonight. Steve runs to pick up a package of diapers for Abbie since we realized we are out.

9:00 The Bedtime Sequence is initiated. I read Mrs. Piggle-Wiggle to the big kids while he reads Thomas to the little kids. Teeth are brushed, songs are sung, prayers are said.

9:45 Abbie starts crying and won't stop. Daddy goes to investigate and discovers a small, pink (of course) bead stuck up her nose. Why? Where did it come from? These are deep dark mysteries of the universe that will never be resolved. Steve digs it out effortlessly. I tuck her back into bed and then spend a lot more time soothing Kaytie's trauma over the incident. She is such a tenderhearted little soul!

10:00 Little people are finally asleep. I read blogs, check my email, finish this post and then head off to wrangle some chatting with my husband before bed.

Wow

You know you are doing something right as a mom when your five year old son tells you, "Mom, I love you more than I love the tarantula on tv."

Thanks, son, I truly have no words.

Totschool: lite

We sort of took a week off and did a lot of easy stuff this week and added a lot of "field trip" stuff.

Since the little kids have developed an insatiable desire for coloring, I dug out this very cool wipe-off book and put it on their shelf with a dry erase marker. It was a VERY big hit! It got lots and lots of use. In fact, they fought over it quite a bit.

Abbie also played with stickers, and then colored them. They are coloring-fiends, I tell you!

She somewhat enjoyed lacing our math cubes with this string... she kept trying to convince me that I should do it for her. It was harder work than pony beads on a pipe cleaner, and at times, it didn't seem worth it to her. But she did get the hang of it eventually.

She dressed up as a princess and went to a Fall Festival at her cousin's church.

She played in our first bit of snowfall. We are hoping for great things in the snow department this year since we are seeing flakes this early!

She joined in the traditional pumpkin carving. She was very grossed out by the insides!

And she got to go see a "balloon glow". This was very fun, although it was rather chilly! All of the kids were disappointed that they didn't get to actually ride in the balloons!

For more Totschool posts, go here.

Trick or Treat!

It started off with a clown, a construction guy, a train engineer and a princess...

and the evening just got better from there.

Since we had already gone to a church carnival, we mixed it up a little and took the kids Trick or Treating at the zoo. It was fun and quite a unique experience! There were carnival games set up for the kids to play and win prizes. I didn't get any pictures because we had our hands full keeping the kids in line, focused on the games, getting their prizes, and moving out of the way. Four wide-eyed, excited kids take a lot of herding!

Besides the regular animals, there were little cages or aquariums set up with various interesting animals such as a bunny, Madagascar cockroaches, a red-kneed spider, and a rat. There were also people standing around in costumes handing out candy.

Abbie figured out quickly that holding out her bag was not too hard for a shy girl to do when it meant people were going to give her candy! I expected her to be difficult, but she had no trouble. No one else did either, except for Daniel and this bear. He was freaked out by this bear and would not even go up to get candy. You can see in this picture he is headed the other way as quickly as he could go!

This raccoon was not shy, either. He saw us standing by his cage and he came trotting over to check us out. I bet he had never been visited by a crew quite like ours!

Abbie went over to pet this cute spider, and when she touched it, it moved! She screamed and ran away, but by the time she got to her daddy, she was laughing.

It was a beautiful evening for a jaunt around the zoo, and after we got home, we took a quick trip around our neighbourhood. Then the kids dug into their candy while I fixed orange pancakes for supper.

It was a super Halloween. The kids have bowls full of candy to enjoy. The zoo was a good time. :) And the best part of it all for mommy, at least, was that all of their costumes came out of the dress-up box! I spent an average of $3 per kid, and that counts the treat bags!

Now, if we could only get the kids to go to sleep!!!!

Seven things you never really wondered about

I got an award! :) Awards are always fun to get and to pass on, but this one is super-cool because it is from an awesome lady who's blog I just love to read. She posts often, which inspires me to at least post, ;) and she is lovely and gracious. She loves books more than I do, which I never would have thought possible for another human to do. :) My Kaytie loves hearing stories about her Jemimah. But most of all, she is from Australia, which means I get to learn about another culture as I enjoy her musings. Thank you, Jeanne, for this award!

These are the rules:
Publish Post
1. Thank the person who gave this to you
2. Copy the logo and place it on your blog
3. Link the person who nominated you
4. Name 7 things about yourself that no one would really know
5. Nominate 7 other bloggers & let them know they are nominated.

(So, first of all, I'm assuming the "no one" means Blogland people, because I could never come up with seven things my husband does not know about me! And it would take a long long time to come up with seven things my family does not know about me.)

1. I'm addicted to the Internet. It is my recreation as well as my information super-highway. Seriously, anything I want to know, I google it. Everything from homeschooling ideas, to recipes, to trivia facts that I'm curious about, to present ideas, to my own zip code. I also use it to keep up with family and friends. I have even made friends on the Internet. ;)

2. I hate to cook. I don't really care that much for food, period. I would prefer to live on chocolate and sweet tea. So I am eagerly awaiting the day when my oldest daughter can do all the cooking for me. (She is eagerly awaiting that day as well!)

3. I'm addicted to holidays, too. I love love love making each holiday special for the kids. We like to have quirky treats and play fun games on holidays. We celebrate every holiday we can squeeze in!

4. I am allergic to earrings. I had my ears pierced when I was about four or so, and my ears promptly swelled up and never went back down again. Not even hypo-allergenic ones would do the trick. (and by "never" I mean until the earrings were removed). This is the main reason the girls don't have their ears pierced. I wanted to make sure they would be able to tell me if anything was wrong.

5. I have two main fears. One, of heights, which has never stopped me from doing anything I want to do. And one, of little creatures who have no legs. The ones who were the only animal specifically cursed by God. I have such a paranoia of these things that my kids know not to mention them in my presence and will even alert me in stores or while reading a book to "don't look over there!"

6. My husband was the first guy I ever kissed. :)

7. I do not remember not knowing how to read. And I have been a bookworm my entire life. I used to buy books for my future children when I was only a teenager.

The bloggers I would like to pass this award on to are:

Star (one of my favorite bloggers with a good sense of humor. She is great about keeping it real!)

Pumpkin Patch (a terrific place to find living math ideas, and other fun stuff)

Melissa (a beautiful blog, and she just happens to be my SIL)

Shady Bayou (lots of good science ideas here, and two adorable little boys who are always up to something and always make me smile)

Ten Kids and a Dog (always something going on at this blog! This is one of my favorite blogs to read.)

Julie (another blog I just enjoy reading. She has book reviews that I enjoy, especially since she always picks books I have never heard of before. Very cool.)

Testosterhome (you never know what you are going to find here... excitement, adventure, funny stories, or words that make you think. I happened across this blog by accident a long time ago and just haven't been able to stay away. Of course, it doesn't hurt that she has five boys and I grew up with six big brothers, so I feel right at home on her blog! lol)

I read many other blogs, and enjoy each one. (check out my blog roll!) But I could only pick seven, so I shut my eyes and pointed. lol Not really. These are all great blogs to read!

(ps: "blog" should really not be considered a mis-spelled word on a blog spell checker, don't ya think?)

PreK, David and Goliath and G

Daniel learned the story of David and Goliath this week. Available on his shelves were lots of Big and Little activities. What he chose was:

lots and lots of stamping. He loves these little sheets where he can put one stamp in each square. I always put out two, one for him and one for Abbie, but he always winds up using them both.

He hunted for small objects in a box of beans. This was a VERY BIG HIT!

He also really like matching tiny pictures to big ones using a magnifying glass.

He chose to read books.

He also definitively revealed a talent for drawing this week. We have been marveling over his ability to color in the lines for quite some time now, but this week, he pulled out the Magnadoodle and just started drawing.

These are his snails.

This is his happy pumpkin.

This is his caterpillar.

These pictures are all his own. He decides what he is going to draw and he draws it. His circles are already better than mine!

And he went on a nature walk/picnic with the family. He had a lot of fun skipping rocks, gathering leaves, rocks, pine cones, duck feathers, and pine needles to take home to play with.

And finally, we worked some with Progressive Phonics. He enjoyed this, especially when he sounded out his very first word! :) It occurred to me, that everything he has learned in his little life so far he has learned very quickly and he has seen a reason to learn it. So the sweet little method of phonics that I used with Kaytie and Nate probably aren't going to fly with him. He needs to "get" why we care what sound the letter makes. So we are going to spend more time one on one with this program and with some games that I am creating for the purpose.